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I'm officially back in California! I will begin school in just over a week, so I am incredibly excited to start this new chapter of my life. It is a big change, but it's been great fun so far! I certainly miss everyone in Colorado, but this is a wonderful opportunity for me to start a fabulous college career!
I have had the pleasure of staying with some friends of ours in "NorCal" the past week and will stay with them until I move in on campus. All three of their daughters play water polo, so I went to one of the matches on Saturday night to watch them play! It was great cheering the girls on, especially since I've never seen a water polo match live! Today, I got to hang out at the Fisherman's Wharf today, and I got to pick up some fabulous sourdough bread from Boudin and took some great pictures from Coit Tower and the infamous Lombard Street (it has all the hairpin turns)!
Next week is my last week of freedom, but I can't wait to move into the dorms! I won't know anything about my roommate until we meet face to face (not even her name!) since it's Stanford's policy, so I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I just hope that she won't mind my alarm clock going off early so I can train in San Jose each morning!
That's all for now-on to college dorm life!

Rach
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Things around our house recently have been incredibly hectic! Not only am I starting to collect all my belongings for my big move out to Palo Alto to attend Stanford University this fall, but my parents and I are busy packing for our relocation to San Diego this autumn as well. Two farewell parties were thrown for us this past weekend, and we reminisced about the good times we had in Colorado Springs, with another send-off dinner tonight as well! The last month has been full of wonderful experiences, but it is becoming harder to say goodbye to friends as I head off to college within the next few weeks!

My mom and I drove out to California for a quick weekend to move some of our things out and spend a weekend with my dad, former neighbors, and friends. It was great to get back to the beach for the weekend, enjoy the sun, sand and surf, and to eat at a few of our favorite restaurants in town. The combined total of thirty-six hours spent in the car driving to and from California within a couple days was not ideal, but I did finish re-reading the last Harry Potter book before I saw the movie (which was awesome)!

I also celebrated my nineteenth birthday two weeks ago, so that was really fun. My mom made delicious cupcakes for everyone at the rink, and they disappeared quite quickly! It was no wonder because she made two kinds: a vanilla cupcake with a lemon curd filling and a red velvet cupcake with a raspberry filling; both frosted with French buttercream. YUM!

As for now, I have been training my new long program which was choreographed by Lori Nichol at the beginning of July during my annual summer trip to Toronto (I am keeping my East of Eden short program from last season as I had it for less than half of the season). Next on my schedule, I am headed out to California to finalize arrangements with my new coaches, and then I will head down to Los Angeles to skate in Nicholas and Tricia's LaRoche's ice show, "An Evening on Ice" at the Pickwick Ice Center in Burbank on Friday, August 12th, benefiting the US Athletic Foundation. California, here I come!

All the best and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!
Rach

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It's officially summer!!

I am so excited for the start of my season, as I am finally back on the ice training again! I just participated at Skate For Hope in Columbus, Ohio for the fourth time. The show was a fabulous production yet once again, and thank you to everyone who volunteered this year! I certainly had a wonderful time with the entire cast as well. Caitlin Yankowskas, Alexe Gilles, Emily Samuelson, and I performed a number to "Single Ladies" which was choreographed by Kate McSwain very very late on Friday night into Saturday morning before the show on Saturday night. We all came together as a group to get the piece choreographed, and we all had way too much fun performing it during the show.

The Broadmoor Skating Club is hosting the Broadmoor Open soon, so I will be cheering on some of my teammates as they compete at their first competition of the season! I am trying my hand at announcing as well, so hopefully my stint as a 'Celebrity Sportscaster' on Channel 5 (the local NBC affiliate) will pay off!

Olympic Day at the OTC was on June 25 - a bunch of the athletes from the OTC helped out and promoted different sports.

That's all for now :)
Rachael

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The past few weeks have been a complete blur! Between Worlds, vacation in Hawaii and California, and getting my wisdom teeth out, I have been all over the place!
Worlds was certainly not the best experience, but I was so happy I was able to push through a stress fracture in my tibia and prove to myself I could skate through a lot of pain while keeping two slots for the US ladies. Despite being disappointed in the fact that I could not perform at my best, I made it through a tough season riddled with injuries. Next season is going to be very different, not only because I am heading to Stanford and switching coaches and training venues, but because I gained a lot of experience from this season. I am very excited for the next part of my life to start!

As for Hawaii and California...well, it was an intense period of relaxation! :) I was bummed that I could not play tennis while we were there since it was doctor's orders to just relax on the beach and not do much of anything. After such a long season, I think my body was very happy with that prognosis! The added bonus is that I am now pretty tan and much blonder, so I look more like the California girl I used to be.

After staying inside for a few days following my surgery (my cheeks are now back to normal, thankfully...I had some major chipmunk cheeks going thanks to my wisdom teeth extraction), I am ready to go outside and enjoy the fabulous Colorado weather! I feel very refreshed after my time off from the ice, and I am ready to get back to work!

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I hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays as much as I did! I was very busy with the
Debutante Ball, Christmas, my dad's 51st birthday, New Years and now a quick
trip to Toronto for some touch ups on both my new short program and my long program before Nationals! I had a fabulous time at the ball as we danced the night away! The next day in training was a little bit more difficult, but I had a wonderful night!

Then it was Christmas Eve and my parents and I made the traditional homemade ravioli as we do each year. I woke up to find that my parents had gotten me a brand new Schwinn bike (baby blue and white) as my campus transportation for Stanford. I was ecstatic when I discovered it came with a bell (It was quite fun to return to the childhood excitement of receiving a new bike for Christmas)!! :)

For my dad's birthday, I got him a few books on tennis (as he is a tennis player himself and an avid fan) and a San Francisco Giants hat with "World Series Champions" embroidered on the front.

Shortly thereafter, I came up to Toronto to work with Lori Nichol once again so
that she could refurbish sections of my programs. It's been great to see some
snow up here as we have not had much snow in the Springs despite it being very
cold!

I certainly hope everyone enjoyed their Holidays and is looking forward to a
wonderful start to 2011!

Rachael

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